Quotes of the day

posted at 10:41 pm on April 8, 2013 by Allahpundit

Mrs. Thatcher’s predecessor as prime minister, the amiable but forgotten Sunny Jim Callaghan, once confided to a friend of mine that he thought Britain’s decline was irreversible and that the government’s job was to manage it as gracefully as possible. By 1979, even this modest aim seemed beyond the capabilities of the British establishment, and the nation turned to a woman who was one of the few even in a supposedly “conservative” party not to subscribe to the Callaghan thesis. She reversed the decline, at home and overseas. The Falklands War, inconsequential in and of itself, had a huge global significance: After Vietnam, the fall of the Shah, Cuban troops in Africa, and Soviet annexation of real estate from Cambodia to Grenada, the British routing of the Argentine junta stunned everyone from the politburo in Moscow to their nickel ’n’ dime clients in the presidential palaces, all of whom had figured the “free world” no longer had any fight in it…

That’s to say, she understood that the biggest threat to any viable future for Britain was a unionized public sector that had awarded itself a lifestyle it wasn’t willing to earn. So she picked a fight with it, and made sure she won. In the pre-Thatcher era, union leaders were household names, mainly because they were responsible for everything your household lacked. Britain’s system of government was summed up in the unlovely phrase “beer and sandwiches at Number Ten” — which meant union grandees showing up at Downing Street to discuss what it would take to persuade them not to go on strike, and being plied with the aforementioned refreshments by a prime minister reduced to the proprietor of a seedy pub, with the Cabinet as his barmaids.

In 1990, when Mrs. Thatcher was evicted from office by her ingrate party’s act of matricide, the difference she’d made was such that in all the political panel discussions on TV that evening no producer thought to invite any union leaders. No one knew their names anymore.

***

And she seemed to be having so much fun. That, I think, is what they never forgave her for. Thatcher laughed at them, mocked them, outwitted and out-debated them. That infuriated the Left: Conservatives aren’t supposed to mock, they are supposed to be mocked. They might be allowed to win a few elections, but they could never be allowed to win the argument, much less to scoff at liberals’ public pieties.

Thatcher won, in no small part because she was her own best case. Her confidence, prudence, good humor, and other virtues were those she sought to encourage in her fellow countrymen…

As we celebrate the remarkable life of Margaret Thatcher, it is fitting that we remember the most important aspect of it: She won, and she deserved to win. Those who opposed her and reviled her were on the wrong side of the most important question of their age, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with tyrants, many of them as guilty as those who manned the gulag watchtowers. And even today, when they make their pilgrimages to sit at the feet of Castro or bury Chávez, when they put leftist terrorists on their payrolls, they know: They lost. What they do not know, because they are incapable of understanding the fact, is that they deserved to lose. We should not allow them to pretend that they were on the right side all along.

***

She had the smooth, cold surface of a porcelain figurine, but her decisiveness made her the most formidable woman in 20th-century politics and England’s most formidable woman since its greatest sovereign, Elizabeth I. The Argentine junta learned of her decisiveness when it seized the Falklands. The British, too, learned. A Tory MP said, “She cannot see an institution without hitting it with her handbag.”…

Before Thatcher, Britain’s economic problems often were ascribed to national character and hence were thought immune to remediation. Thatcher thought national character was part of the problem, but that national character is malleable, given bracing economic medicine. Marx’s ghost, hovering over his grave in London’s Highgate Cemetery, must have marveled at this Tory variant of economic determinism…

Like de Gaulle, she was a charismatic conservative nationalist who was properly resistant to what she called the European federalists’ attempts to “suppress nationhood and concentrate power at the center of a European conglomerate.” She left the British this ongoing challenge: “We have not successfully rolled back the frontiers of the state in Britain only to see them reimposed at a European level.” As long as her brave heart beat, she knew there are no final victories.

***

Feminism has long been associated with talk: combative rhetoric about equal rights, academic analysis of whether men and women are the same or whether women are actually better, that moldy debate over whether it’s possible for women to “have it all,” both career and family. Many a feminist like Germaine Greer or Betty Friedan, and more recently Sheryl Sandberg and Anne Marie Slaughter, has made her mark through writing about gender issues—sometimes to considerable cultural effect, but still more talk. Connotatively, a “feminist” has a chip on her shoulder the size of a two-by-four, never shuts up about “empowerment,” is eternally on the look out for sexist slights, and never considers the possibility that other people might deny her a job or dismiss her opinions because she is personally insufferable. The movement has often obsessed with language, leaving a legacy of awkward “him/her” constructions or faddish but equally sexist Bibles whose God is a “she.” Given the humorless blah-blah-blah the term feminist evokes, it’s little wonder that many young women today avoid the label.

Margaret Thatcher was a real feminist. Not for what she said but for what she did. She did not pursue justice for her gender; women’s rights per se was clearly a low priority for her. She was out for herself and for what she believed in. If we had more feminists like Thatcher, we’d have vastly more women in Parliament and the U.S. Senate, as well as more trees and fewer tedious television talk shows. More “feminists” like Thatcher, the first woman to lead a major Western democracy, and young women would be clamoring to be called one, too.

***

She was, in that sense, a liberator. She didn’t constantly (or even ever) argue for women’s equality; she just lived it. She didn’t just usher in greater economic freedom; she unwittingly brought with it cultural transformation – because there is nothing more culturally disruptive than individualism and capitalism. Her 1940s values never re-took: the Brits engaged in spending and borrowing binges long after she had left the scene, and what last vestiges of prudery were left in the dust.

Perhaps in future years, her legacy might be better seen as a last, sane defense of the nation-state as the least worst political unit in human civilization. Her deep suspicion of the European project was rooted in memories of the Blitz, but it was also prescient and wise. Without her, it is doubtful the British would have kept their currency and their independence. They would have German financiers going over the budget in Whitehall by now, as they are in Greece and Portugal and Cyprus. She did not therefore only resuscitate economic freedom in Britain, she kept Britain itself free as an independent nation. Neither achievement was inevitable; in fact, each was a function of a single woman’s will-power. To have achieved both makes her easily the greatest 20th century prime minister after Churchill.

As the Russian newspaper Pravda explained a few years ago, Margaret Thatcher was first called an “Iron Lady,” by the Soviet defense ministry newspaper Krasnaya Zvezda, or Red Star, in 1976. Within days, Mrs. Thatcher joked about the slur…

“I came to office with one deliberate intent: to change Britain from a dependent to a self-reliant society — from a give-it-to-me, to a do-it-yourself nation. A get-up-and-go, instead of a sit-back-and-wait-for-it Britain.” ~ Margaret Thatcher

and we all know the truth. We mourn not only the passing of a great leader…but the lack of any now.

Three years that will put us at 28 and I think I can say I earned my right to be left alone:)

SWalker on April 9, 2013 at 2:07 AM

Axe on April 9, 2013 at 2:09 AM

yes astronomy for sure, some chemistry and biology, crop rotation and soil stuff, mostly related to survivalist advancements, I will be close to a survival school once retired and it is something I enjoy.
Want to study a bit on mechanical engineering and physics as well, applications to farming and irrigation. Plus there are always the applications of all those to weapons and my skill at the bow, have to be a good provider you know, that is how you attract women, by being able to put meat in the freezer don’t you know;)

I feel like I should say something positive about SWalker’s quantum gravity equation, or else I’m going to get knocked down by a twelve year with a rifle as big as me just waiting to “take out the trash.” :)

Plus there are always the applications of all those to weapons and my skill at the bow, have to be a good provider you know, that is how you attract women, by being able to put meat in the freezer don’t you know;)

MarshFox on April 9, 2013 at 2:16 AM

That skill is most important in taking care of my most precious gift(LilaMunro)God sent me an angel and I take that responsibility very serious!

I feel like I should say something positive about SWalker’s quantum gravity equation, or else I’m going to get knocked down by a twelve year with a rifle as big as me just waiting to “take out the trash.” :)

Axe on April 9, 2013 at 2:17 AM

BWAHAHAHAHAH…. Not to worry, their really aren’t enough folks on earth that understand those equations for it to matter. Besides she’s a real sweetheart, she won’t do nuffin lest you is causin some serious stuff to be a flyin…

Absolutely! I love the sound of the tires on the highway and just being able to go where I want, when I want. I’ve driven across the country many times. I don’t even like to stop to sleep, I get so into the road and just… going. :)

Absolutely! I love the sound of the tires on the highway and just being able to go where I want, when I want. I’ve driven across the country many times. I don’t even like to stop to sleep, I get so into the road and just… going. :)

thatsafactjack on April 9, 2013 at 2:29 AM

Everyone’s in a hurry. I love road trips. Not exactly like you in the head though; I want to stop and look at a strangely square bale of hay. Take a picture. :)

People want to hop place to place and talk about how much time they don’t have. In those ridiculous sky buses made of al-you-minium and sorrow. :)

By the way, trying to explain to them that they really aren’t all that important and don’t actually need to be across the country in two hours doesn’t go down well.

I didn’t say I didn’t stop to see things and talk to people. That’s the whole point of the trip. I’m a writer and to experience and observe, people, places, things, is everything to me. I just don’t like to waste time when I get the chance for a good trip going to a motel, or even in a rest area in my car sleeping. I do, however, make sure that I get enough sleep to drive safely. :)

Everyone’s in a hurry. I love road trips. Not exactly like you in the head though; I want to stop and look at a strangely square bale of hay. Take a picture. :)

I actually understand that, because I am the same way, I can stop on the side of the road and watch ants disassemble another bug carcass, been doing things like that since day one, so guessing your not as discombobulated as you thought huh;)

So — working out a couple months and trying to clean up a little so you can take an impressive internet picture and show people what you look like even though you didn’t look that way a couple months ago but you want to try to look your best for the picture anyway —

lol — I didn’t mean to imply you racing across the landscape with bloodshot eyes shouting “NO TIME” out the window at the people you passed. :) You didn’t need that last sentence, though without it you’d be less you. :)

so guessing your not as discombobulated as you thought huh

MarshFox on April 9, 2013 at 2:41 AM

I dunno man. That could also mean you’re just as discombobulated. :) I guess we’ll let Mrs MarshFox (Lila Munroe) tell us.

So — working out a couple months and trying to clean up a little so you can take an impressive internet picture and show people what you look like even though you didn’t look that way a couple months ago but you want to try to look your best for the picture anyway –

Too Bluegill?

Axe on April 9, 2013 at 2:41 AM

ROTFLMAO…. Dude, I’m 52 and have never been married…. Does it look like I have the slightest clue how to attract a mate? O_O

You can? That’s wonderful, Axefellow! I had no idea you play the saxophone. Another heretofore unknown facet of your very complex character. Very cool. :)

thatsafactjack on April 9, 2013 at 2:52 AM

I had a guitar, then I had a harmonica. Then I was formally trained on a sax and learned to read music. I was pretty good; knocked around with a buddy of mine (he’s got to be a pro now; he was one of those, amazing), tossed the harmonica, picked up the guitar.

The thing is that I was more interested in how the guitar worked, the first time. I took it apart and never got it back together again. :) So it leap frogs in my life there. And I’m about worthless. If I’m a musician, I’m a sax player.

I took apart a 70 Maverick too — bolt by bolt. I can’t tell you what taking your car completely apart does to your reputation, but I highly recommend it. :)

Music’s a road not taken, though. It’s why I bow out of the conversation and let serious people talk about it. I don’t want to mislead anyone, and other than fielding questions about my nick, I usually leave it alone.

But I _do_ still compose. And I’ve written some things and tracked them and everything. It’s a hundred miles from my other life, so its restful. :)

You helped form my understanding of what a woman was generally, and in particular, you forced me to abandon any preferred illusions of what a woman might be in favor of the truth. This put me on a path.

You showed me that people were fighting the nightfall in distant places. This influenced my understanding of how the word was knitted together and made it possible for me dismiss the illusion that good people here were fighting alone against the remainder of the world. Knowing about you was knowing that people everywhere, even in dark places easily otherwise dismissed, fight with us. You couldn’t save me from seeing my country as the center of the world, but you helped save me from misunderstanding the rest of the world entirely.

You showed me it was possible to win. I still catch myself warring with the word “inevitable” because I don’t believe in it, and your accomplishments are part of the reason why.

You argued your political philosophy robustly, and attending to your arguments, I learned your philosophy. I suspect you would see this influence as the most valuable. I’m not so sure. But I’ve taught that philosophy to my son.

You gave me simple things to remember. You were just telling the truth at the time, as best you could, but the world cares less and less about the truth every day, and as it begins to feed itself more and more with its own lie, the simple and straightforward things you said wax in value. We repeat them.

These are all personal things, not political accomplishments. I don’t know if they are going to build you a shrine or burn you annually in effigy for those. They influenced me as well, but those stones are being turned without me.

I would have liked to meet you. I’m better for having known of you.

I’ve no doubt you’d interject something along the lines of “do” at this point, in lieu of “talk.” Please know I heard you on this point as well, and I’m working on as much “do” in lieu of “talk” as I might.

It’s been a while since you were in the arena, but even so the war feels a little less certain with you gone.

COULTER: One thing that I know, because I know people who know her, is when Sarah Palin first burst on the scene, the political scene, she wanted to have a meeting with Palin, because she saw raw political talent, but wanted to teach Sarah Palin to do what she did.
COULTER: To teach her to speak proper English. Palin did not meet with her, and just a year or two ago, when Sarah Palin was promoting some reality show or something, she went to England. And she announced to the press that she was planning on dropping by to see Lady Thatcher, and Lady Thatcher put out the word that she was not available.
COULTER: What, I think, a lot of us saw, that Sarah Palin did have raw political talent. And if she had been willing to put her nose to the grindstone and pursue improving herself, speaking proper English, reading stuff, knowing lots of things, she could have been great. She’s a fine person, but that isn’t what she’s pursuing.

Ann Coulter is so right. Sarah Palin was a HUGE disappointment. This is what I’ve been saying all along. I so wish Palin could have been our Thatcher. Instead, Palin turned into an incompetent, anti-intellectual, cartoonish attention-seeker that few people take seriously and who never made an effort to improve. Sad, indeed.

Mornin’. More than likely. I’m not going to listen to it. Especially that cable news network. Remember what their weekend hostess said. “Melissa Harris-Perry: We Want to Add Your “Chirren” to the Collective.” My take.

good morning HA
and the bashing of thatcher continues i prsume on the lsm?
cmsinaz on April 9, 2013 at 6:34 AM

Who’s bashing her outside of MSNBC?

Why do you subject yourself to that garbage every day? Are you masochistic? Every morning it seems like you have bad/frustrating news to report about what they’re saying on MSNBC. Why pay them so much attention? Do you really enjoy watching MSNBC? If you enjoy it, then more power to you.

Why do you subject yourself to that garbage every day? Are you masochistic? Every morning it seems like you have bad/frustrating news to report about what they’re saying on MSNBC. Why pay them so much attention? Do you really enjoy watching MSNBC? If you enjoy it, then more power to you.

bluegill on April 9, 2013 at 6:51 AM

Somebody has to give us a report on what the enemy is thinking. Cmsinaz is providing recon so the rest of us don’t have to deal with MSDNC.

Somebody has to give us a report on what the enemy is thinking. Cmsinaz is providing recon so the rest of us don’t have to deal with MSDNC.
Happy Nomad on April 9, 2013 at 7:06 AM

That’s great. I was just concerned about how he/she could stand it. Cmsimaz usually seems unhappy about what they’re saying. Maybe the job could be done by different people in shifts so that poor cmsimaz isn’t stuck waking up to that every day. That would drive anyone crazy. :). But if he/she enjoys it, then that’s great.

I am just putting the word out there that I am accepting Twitter followers. I have a pitifully small number (seven) at the moment. Won’t you please help me break into double digits? Click my screen name to get to my twitter page.

By the way, I will forever be grateful to my first Twitter follower. They are a commenter on this site. And they know who they are. Thank you.

ABC just reported that Margaret Thatcher is going to be given a full honors funeral (though technically not a state funeral). The same type held for Princess Diana. Which begs the question, you suppose the rat-eared devil is going to attend (given his hatred of the UK but love of the media spotlight) or if slow Joe gets to fulfill the typical role of a Veep?

anti-intellectual, cartoonish attention-seeker that few people take seriously and who never made an effort to improve. Sad, indeed.

bluegill on April 9, 2013 at 4:33 AM

You just described yourself. The irony! Look in the mirror or the vault.
Of course you like Ann…a loud mouth, rino stroker.

Who’s bashing her outside of MSNBC?

Ummm, plenty of places and people…as a twitter queen,you lie if you didn’t see any bashing.

Why do you subject yourself to that garbage every day? Are you masochistic? Every morning it seems like you have bad/frustrating news to report about what they’re saying on MSNBC. Why pay them so much attention? Do you really enjoy watching MSNBC? If you enjoy it, then more power to you.

bluegill on April 9, 2013 at 6:51 AM

Now CMS was subjected to more garbage-your post to her.
Hopefully she will recover.
I see you didnt change after our last chat.
I know people think your a woman…I say your a queen.
I have never met anyone as bitchy and petty as the diva queens.

I have invented BG Blocker plus software. Anyone interested-contact me. If you order in the next 30 minuets you will receive a free gift. A picture of Palin frying bluegills in a cast iron skillet in the great outdoors.

I am just putting the word out there that I am accepting Twitter I have a pitifully small number (seven) at the moment. Won’t you please help me break into double digits? Click my screen followers. name to get to my twitter page.

By the way, I will forever be grateful to my first Twitter follower. They are a commenter on this site. And they know who they are. Thank you.

bluegill on April 9, 2013 at 7:20 AM

Who are they?

rotflmao!

I wonder why?

What does forever grateful, mean? A prize? I will be your 1st if you never mention Palin again…deal?

ORLANDO, Fla./WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A special Federal Bureau of Investigation team from Washington on Thursday began reviewing the death of a Chechen immigrant linked to the Boston Marathon bombing suspects, a day after he was shot and killed by an agent during questioning in Orlando.

Todashev’s death was a bizarre twist in the Boston Marathon bombing investigation and it remained unclear what caused his alleged attack or what the main focus of the FBI’s questioning was.